Notes on some maladies and afflictions from around baseball on Tuesday ...

Rays third sacker and AL MVP candidate Evan Longoria has no idea when his injured right hand will allow him to join the lineup. He might, however, begin hitting off a tee on Wednesday. [Tampa Tribune]

Brewers right fielder Corey Hart was recently diagnosed with torn cartilage in his knee and on Tuesday underwent successful arthroscopic surgery this week. He'll miss three to four weeks almost certainly open the season on the DL, just as he did in 2011. [MLB.com]

Phillies second baseman Chase Utley still has no clear timetable for his return from chronic knee problems.

“We talked about him not playing for the first week or two weeks,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “We’re going to ease him into it. We know he’ll be ready when the bell rings. We just want to make sure he’s as fresh and as healthy as he can possibly be on Opening Day.” [The Zo Zone]

David Wright of the Mets is hampered by a ribcage injury, and he won't be able to see any Grapefruit League action until at least next week, manager Terry Collins told reporters. Wright is lifting weights and not experiencing any discomfort, but the Mets are taking a conservative approach with their third baseman. [Newark Star-Ledger]

Good news for the wondrously named Freddie Freeman, who was in the lineup on Tuesday well ahead of schedule. Freeman dislocated his left kneecap early in camp and was initially expected to be out for up to two weeks.

“I felt good,” Freeman said afterward. “I had no problems. I wasn’t even thinking about it. I’m not going to go out there if I didn’t feel like I could do it. It felt good swinging. It felt good fielding. I was able to come off the bag when holding on runners and go back just in case there was a throw back." [Atlanta Journal Constitution]

Nationals outfielder Michael Morse, fresh off his 31-homer breakout campaign of 2011, was a late scratch today because of a strained lat muscle. He's listed as day-to-day. [Washington Post]

Astros catcher Humberto Quintero will receive a cortisone shot on Wednesday and then head back to Houston to have his injured back examined. He hopes to be in the lineup on Friday against Toronto. [MLB.com]

For the first time in franchise history, the Astros have lost 100 games, reaching the century mark with a 2-1 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Saturday.

The 100-loss season leaves just two teams -- the Rockies and Angels -- without a season of 100 losses in their history.

The A's -- from Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland -- have the most 100-loss seasons on their record, 16. The Astros are now just one of six teams to have just one 100-loss season on their record, joining the Brewers, Diamondbacks, Giants, Marlins and Reds.

The Astros have won just 51 games this season to go with 100 losses. Houston has 11 games remaining, meaning it's unlikely they'll lose more than 110 games. Since World War II, only four teams have lost more than 110 games, with the Diamondbacks losing 111 in 2004 and the Tigers losing 119 in 2003.

Houston took an early lead, scoring on an error by Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez in the first inning, but Chicago scored on an error by Astros catcher Carlos Corporan in the bottom of the inning and took the lead on Bryan LaHair's second homer of the season in the fourth inning. Henry Sosa picked up the loss, his fifth of the season.

Chicago's Sean Marshall loaded the bases in the ninth inning with one out, but struck out Jose Altuve and got pinch hitter Humberto Quintero to ground out to help the Cubs avoid their 86th loss of the season.

Houston has by far the worst record in the majors this season, with Minnesota (59-90) and Baltimore (61-88) left as the only other teams with a chance of losing 100 games in 2011.

Your stat of the day: Carlos Lee has more career plate appearances than the rest of the Astros' position players combined.

The Houston Chronicle's Steve Campbell figured that stat out for his feature on Carlos Lee. Lee has 7,967 career plate appearances -- four more than the rest of Astros' position players combined.

Only three Astros, shortstop Clint Barmes (2,826), outfielder Jason Michael (2,588) and catcher Humberto Quintero (1,033) have more than 1,000 career plate appearances. Last season Hunter Pence led the team with 658 plate appearances in 156 games, so to put it in perspective, besides Lee, only two current Astros have more than two full seasons worth of big league plate appearances.

How about this? Lee is mired in an 0-for-23 funk -- tonight he'll have three teammates in uniform who don't have 23 career at-bats. In fact, the trio -- outfielder J.D. Martinez, third baseman Jimmy Paredes and outfielder J.B. Shuck have a combined 27 at-bats in the big leagues (and nine hits).

Lee's probably not going anywhere anytime soon, though. He's signed through next season -- and his $18.5 million salary is actually more than twice the rest of the team's position players combined salary.

"I’m more of a teacher, a mentor,” Lee told Campbell. “Pretty much whatever I can do to help, I’m open for it. I try to keep it loose, make ‘em understand to go out and have fun and play hard. Regardless of the situation, it’s still my job to go out there and do the best I can, compete as hard as I can."

RETURN PENDING: Dodgers shortstop Dee Gordon is being sent out to Triple-A to make room for Rafael Furcal's return, but if manager Don Mattingly knows what he's talking about, Gordon will be back at some point.

The scrawny son of Tom Gordon hit .232/.250/.280 in 85 plate appearances, just flat out awful numbers, and it's hard to think that his complete and utter lack of power is being exposed. Sure, there are plenty of successful slap hitters in the bigs, but even they have a modicum of power. When you look at Gordon, you certainly will have trouble finding any ounce of fat or muscle on him, so rifling line drives is a lot harder than for someone like Michael Bourn, who also has low power numbers.

Mattingly said that Gordon "showed [Mattingly] he wants to be great. That's the biggest thing."

"He has a real good feel for the game," GM Ned Colletti added. "He was able to slow things down more than not."

Maybe so, but the 23-year-old has a ways to go if he wants to be the Dodgers' future starter. (Los Angeles Times)

ICE-CREAM TEAMS: Ice cream and baseball are as American as it gets, so it's no surprise that someone came up with corresponding ice-cream flavors for each baseball team. The Yankees being "vanilla" might sound odd given the term means ordinary, but let Timothy Malcom explain.

"The Yankees is and have been America’s most popular baseball team. It’s clean, it’s tradition, it’s even kind of predictable. But it’s always great, and always there at the end of the day. Damn Yankees."

Meanwhile, the poor Cubs get stuck with Neapolitan -- "Combine the tradition of the Vanilla Yankees, the sweet failure of the Chocolate Red Sox and the perennially optimistic Midwest following of the Strawberry Cardinals, and you have this wonderful combination of baseball’s top tier. The problem, of course, is nobody ever buys Neapolitan." (Timothy Malcom)

HAUNTED HOTEL: Humberto Quintero is currently at Houston's Triple-A affiliate on a rehab assignment for an injury. The backstop's team completed a game in Memphis, Tenn. and departed back to Oklahoma City afterward. Quintero hung back for the night, but had to switch hotels after two murders took place. I'd switch, too. (MLB.com)

HIGH-SCHOOL MEMORIES: The last time Laynce Nix played first base was in high school. Before Monday, that is. Slammed with injuries, Nationals manager asked Nix, an outfielder, if he had ever played first. After hearing that Nix did so in high school, Johnson decided that was good enough and sent Nix out to first base for the seventh inning. “It was pretty wild, I’m still trying to figure out how that worked out,” Nix said. “But it was fun.” (Washington Times)

PRIVATE PITCHERS: Cubs manager Mike Quade wonders if pitchers should have the chance to warm up privately. He's not referring to the standard mid-inning tosses, but rather when a pitcher is forced to enter the game without warming up in the bullpen due to a pitcher's injury. In these cases, he can warm up for as long as he needs on the mound, but he can't get ready in the bullpen. Why not, Quade asks. ‘‘If a guy’s more comfortable doing his thing [in the bullpen], I’d rather have him [do that] because of the urgency once you get on the mound and everybody’s watching.’’ Interesting idea, but if the dude is expected to pitch in a game on that mound in front of a national TV audience and crowd, he can handle warming up. (Chicago Sun-Times)

WHY? A 4.47 ERA doesn't quite lend itself to being called a setup man, especially Kameron Loe, who has given up lead after lead this season despite not being notably any worse than last year. Fans are getting fed up with Loe, who blew a lead Monday as Milwaukee went on to lose. So why did Loe get the ball? Simple, says Brewers manager Ron Roenicke: lefty Zach Braddock was tired and the club isn't prepared to throw Takashi Saito, who has missed the entire season to date due to injury until coming off the DL mere days ago, into the fire that quickly. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

TOUGH CHOICE: Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he had a terrible time trying to figure out which Padres reliever to name to the All-Star Game: Heath Bell or Mike Adams? In the end, he took the closer -- but if and when Bell is traded this month, Adams will take over closing duties. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

MISERABLE: Clay Buchholz admitted he is "getting a little miserable" with the back problems that have yet to get better and have left him on the DL for 2 1/2 weeks, already past the projected return date. The righty is seeing a back specialist and will simply have to wait things out before returning to the Red Sox rotation. (WEEI)

GARLAND DONE? Part of what has made Jon Garland so appealing to teams is his durability. Well, 2011 certainly won't be part of his resume after his second trip to the disabled list has gone on for a month with right-shoulder inflammation and threatens his entire year. The right-hander will get a second opinion, but the Dodgers pitcher is likely done for the year whether he goes under the knife or not. (ESPN Los Angeles)

TIME FOR SPRING TRAINING: Johan Santana threw off a mound Monday and had no setbacks, so Santana will now begin his version of spring training. Don't count on a return from the lefty until mid-August, at which point this Mets team could have an entirely different look thanks to the trade deadline. (New York Post)

For those wanting a rules change in the wake of Buster Posey's injury, there's more ammunition after Astros catcher Humberto Quintero was helped off the field after a collision with Arizona third baseman Ryan Roberts in the seventh inning of Friday's game in Houston.

Quintero has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a high ankle sprain, according to MoiseKapenda Bower of FoxSportsHouston.com on Twitter. Houston called up Robinson Cancel to take his place.

With bases loaded and one out, Chris Young hit a slow roller between the third-base line and the mound. Astros pitcher Wilton Lopez fielded the ball and made a quick throw to Quintero, but it bounced off of Roberts, who then plowed over Quintero.

Quintero stumbled a little on Young's bat and had his left knee on the ground when Roberts made contact. He immediately grabbed that knee.

Two runs scored -- which were the tying and go-ahead run in the team's 7-6 victory -- and Quintero had to be helped off the field by two members of the team's medical staff.

One big difference between tonight's play and Posey's was that Quintero had the plate completely blocked.

Castro is still the team's long-term catcher, but the team may look outside for a stopgap solution. Currently the team has Humberto Quintero and J.R. Towles -- neither of whom profile as much more than quality backups.

The team has just three other catchers in camp, Carlos Corporan, Brian Esposito and Rene Garcia. Neither Corporan, 27, nor Esposito, 32, are prospects, while the 20-year old Garcia hit just .250/.288/.308 combined at the two levels of Class A last season.

"At the end of the day, I'm hoping the guys we have here step up and do what they're capable of doing and win the job," general manager Ed Wade said. "At the same time, if I get a call from somebody and they say, 'Hey, we've got so-and-so available, and this is what we're looking for,' and it fits what we're trying to do, we'd be prepared to do something today."

Front-line catching talent isn't exactly easy to find. One of the few catchers on the trading block is Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit.

However, Doumit is owed $5.1 million this season and is far from Ivan Rodriguez behind the plate. But he does have a bat and a bat that would play well at Minute Maid Park. In 72 career plate appearances in Houston, Doumit has hit .292/.347/.446 with three home runs.

Still, Pirates GM Neal Huntington said his phone hasn't exactly been ringing off the hook for Doumit.

UPDATE: MLB.com's Bill Ladson writes the Astros have asked the Nationals about Jesus Flores, but is concerned about the health of Flores' right shoulder, which has kept him off the field the last two seasons.
The Nationals have depth at catcher with starter and future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez, along with Wilson Ramos, who is considered their catcher of the future. The team also things Derek Norris is ready to hit at in the big leagues and is improving defensively.
For more baseball news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsmlb on Twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Astros catcher Jason Castro will return to Houston today to meet with the team's medical director after suffering a torn medical meniscus in his right knee. He will likely undergo surgery, and his status for the beginning of the season is doubtful, at best.

Castro hurt his knee Wednesday, trying to avoid getting tagged out at first on a slow ground ball in the team's exhibition against the Tigers in Lakeland.

"I thought a lot about that [Wednesday] night," Castro told the Houston Chronicle's Steve Campbell. "But It's OK. I'm OK with it. There's nothing that can change it. I'm trying to stay positive and really just look to start the rehab process and get back playing."

The Associated Press' David J. Phillip caught a photo of the injury here:

Castro, 23, played 67 games for the Astros last season, hitting .205/.286/.573 in 217 plate appearances. The Astros expected him to step into the starting catching role this season. However, the team does have veterans Humberto Quintero and J.R. Towles in camp to take his place, and maybe into the start of the season.

The bat hit Quintero on the helmet and caused a cut. He left under his own power.

Quintero is the Astros' starting catcher, and the only other catcher on the active roster is Kevin Cash. The Astros might need to make a 40-man roster move if Quintero is forced to miss time, because the third catcher on the 40-man is Opening Day catcher J.R. Towles. Towles was optioned to Double-A Corpus Christi after a bad start, and hasn't played since suffering a broken thumb on a headfirst slide May 13.

-- David Andriesen

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports that Quintero received seven stitches to close a gash on the right side of his head. He went for X-rays, but the team said he did not show signs of a concussion. For more baseball news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsmlb on Twitter.